Meek chooses free agency

The Orioles announced today that reliever Evan Meek refused his outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk and elected free agency. Meek, 31, went 0-4 with a 5.79 ERA in 23 1/3 innings over 23 games with the Orioles and 2-0 with a 1.94 ERA and 16 saves in 41 2/3 innings over 39 games with Norfolk. He signed a minor league deal in February following a tryout at Camden Yards the previous month, and he made the club out of spring training after allowing one run and two hits, with no walks and 10 strikeouts, over nine exhibition innings. The Orioles outrighted Meek on Oct. 29. Meek, an All-Star with the Pirates in 2010, may be remembered most as the pitcher who served up Derek Jeter's walk-off single on Sept. 25 in the shortstop's final game at Yankee Stadium. Here's the transcript from Meek's postgame interview: On facing Jeter in that situation "Threw him a cutter away. It's just, baseball has a funny way of, what better way to go out here at Yankee Stadium than to do what he did? I can't be upset about it. It was a great day for him, a great day for his fans, a great day for baseball. It was just an amazing moment. Obviously, you don't want to be the guy out there who gives up the game, but I kind of feel like today it wasn't about me, it wasn't about anyone else. It was his day and it was a great day for baseball. I can either be upset about it or embrace it. What a moment. What a career he's had. It was really an honor and a privilege to just be out there and share the field with him. "It was a great moment for the game and the Yankees organization, the fans who came tonight. Wow. What a way to do it. Destiny has a way of working. It was an amazing moment." On whether he thought he'd end up facing Jeter "We were talking about that in the bullpen. Who's going to get the last at-bat? And then Webby (Ryan Webb) came in and we came back and tied the game up. It was so quick. The phone rang, we got tied and then boom. I knew who I was facing. I knew who was coming up. I give up the gift and bunt that moved him over and then Derek Jeter. And he won the game. Everything happening very fast. Again, it was an amazing moment for baseball, for Yankees fans, for Derek Jeter, who I grew up watching as a kid. I can't be upset about it. It was a great moment. "I watched him. When he got the hit, I watched him round first and watched him jump. The crowd went nuts. In that situation, you just can't be upset about that kind of thing. It's bigger than all of us. It was just a great moment. A great moment for the game and him. There's no better way for him to go out. It was just an amazing moment. "The game has a funny way of working out. I know they go to Boston to end the season, but tonight with it being Derek Jeter's last game here, what better way to send Derek Jeter out than with the game-winning hit? An amazing moment." On Orioles watching from the dugout and tipping their caps "Just shows what kind of guy Jeter is. This guy's last game here, he's doing an interview on the field and he looks over at our dugout and says, 'Good luck. You deserve it.' It just shows the kind of class he has. He looked over in our dugout and said 'Good luck,' and he meant it sincerely. He's a legend. He's done everything right. Not many people can do what he did and went out the way he did. You just can't be upset about it. That moment, the whole day was above everyone. It was all about his legacy that he's going to leave here. It was really an honor and a privilege to just be out there and share the field with him."